Punch
Frunch! |resurrected = Revived by Gil Gil's side project revealed |creator= Created by the Heterodyne Boys |function= |parents= |relatives= |children= Agatha Heterodyne (fostered), Maxinia Agatha Gilliana Heterodyne Clay (biological) |marital status= Paired with Judy, either for appearances or for real }} "That's different. Did Punch ever mention a Master Heliotrope?" "No, because he '''couldn't talk.'"'' "Oh my. Not many people know that." "They probably also don't know that he hiccups after he encounters electricity." —'Carson von Mekkhan' and Agatha Heterodyne Carson testing Agatha with facts about Punch Punch is a construct built by the young Heterodyne Boys. Along with his wife Judy, Punch as originally created is very strong Adam is pretty strong… , but flawed in that he shows obvious signs of being a construct, in his specific case including his huge size and being a mute, although the last is not generally known and the Punch featured in Heterodyne Boy stories speaks. Punch quote from book Agatha is reading As Agatha and Carson discuss in the flavor quote It is perhaps those flaws that might have helped disguise him and Judy in later years, for while some might see that he was a construct, they also might not accept that this 'imperfect' work could be the product of the legendary Heterodyne Boys. See the Secret Blueprints article Being active in the Heterodyne Boys' adventures, he has acquired some impressive fighting skills, including being able to 'flick' metal rivets at near bullet speeds with a high degree of accuracy and control. Punch using his rivet skills At some point he went into retirement and took the name Adam Clay. The "Punch" persona remained (or became) popular as a dopey comic-relief character in Heterodyne stories, Theo mentioning 'dopey monsters' much to the annoyance of Punch and those who knew him Jägers describing Punch. When Barry returned from parts unknown with a young Agatha, he eventually put Punch and Lilith in charge of raising her, before (re-)disappearing on a mysterious personal mission. The trio settled in Beetleburg, a town run by the old family friend Tarsus Beetle, where Punch worked as a blacksmith/mechanic. Their life was reasonably peaceful for several years, despite the uneasy knowledge that Barry had been gone too long and that an old friend they now suspected of something horrible was gaining more and more power. Toward the end, Beetleburg was independent in name only. In the Comic Events come to a head when Baron Wuflenbach finally takes overt control of Beetleburg, on the same day that Agatha's locket is stolen. While Punch and Judy search for it, Agatha's sleep-building of her first clank ends with her being taken to Castle Wulfenbach. Fortunately the couple are skilled enough adventurers to steal an airship and track her down there, interrupting a less-than-romantic moment between their foster daughter and Gilgamesh Wulfenbach. Sadly, they are stopped on the way out by a Wulfenbach party The Clays run into Klaus including Klaus and Von Pinn, who kills them both. (Although Agatha escapes in the process.) Gil takes immediate steps to patch them back together and revive them, a complex and delicate process which takes an extended period of time. Towards the end of this effort, it is revealed that Punch can now speak Gil's side project revealed, (perhaps done by accident, as Gil appears startled when Punch speaks). At this point Punch and Judy are stable enough for Gil to leave them unattended without fear of catastrophe. How soon they are truly ready for action and what they do during this period has not yet been revealed. Time Skip (Approximately two and a half years after Bomb/Door) Agatha is finally with Adam/Punch in the Sneaky Heterodyne Cave near Mechanicsburg, where he has been working with the Jagermonsters and various refugees stranded outside the time-frozen city due to the Baron's use of the Take-Five Bomb. At first she thinks Adam is an imposter because of his aforementioned powers of speech, but is reassured by Dimo that it is really him, and informed that it is now difficult to get him to stop talking. (It's not stated, but it's highly likely that Adam is the source of Dimo's spiffy new mechanical arm.) Adam's skin color has darkened from his original appearance; it is unknown if this is an in-universe change or simply an artistic shift. Among other things, Adam reveals that Lilith/Judy has been caring for the children in the caves, including, to pretty much universal surprise, Adam and Lilith's biological daughter Maxinia; it appears when Gil fixes something he doesn't settle for half-measures. Agatha leaves Punch and Judy behind in the caverns when she sets out for Paris. The Works Adam Clay is a card in The Works, where his details are Hero and Construct. Rrrrr. Outside information and speculation When Punch and Judy kept Agatha in hiding with them as their foster child, they went by the aliases Adam and Lilith Clay. was the name given to the first man in the Bible, and some myths refer to as the wife of Adam prior to Eve. Given that some creation accounts refer to humans being fashioned from clay, and that the medieval story of the also refers to its being made from clay, it appears that the aliases chosen for Punch and Judy were intended as an ironic reference to their status as constructs. We have no explanation for why the name Lilith was chosen, other than that it would have been less obvious than Eve, though it does raise another interesting point for fan discussion on religion. Their actual names, of course, are references to , characters from a traditional English puppet show dating back to the 16th century in the real world. Similar shows actually exist in the Girl Genius universe Wak! Wak! Wak!, but whether the names are used in that context is unknown. Category:Constructs Category:The Old Guard Category:Legendary Characters Category:Characters from Beetleburg Category:Heterodyne minions Category:Heterodyne Boys' creations